Affected by the epidemic prevention and control, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the rise in the price of agricultural materials, extreme weather and other factors, the "grain bag" problem has attracted widespread attention. What is the situation of China's grain production, supply and marketing, the impact of the turmoil in the international grain market, and whether the price of people's rations can be stable? The reporter recently interviewed authoritative departments to have a close look at China's grain under the new situation. Stabilizing area and increasing production capacity: "grain bag" is guaranteed The solar term of Gu Yu coincides with the key agricultural time. Farmers and agricultural technicians are busy in the field and pay close attention to the prevention and control of wheat diseases and insect pests and spring tillage and spring sowing. In Jilin, a major agricultural province, although the progress of preparing for spring ploughing slowed down in March due to epidemic control, after various efforts, rice seedling raising was nearing the end, and the progress delayed in the early stage was basically recovered. Looking at the world and China, the frequent outbreak of the epidemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have brought uncertainty to the food market, and the downward pressure on the domestic economy has increased. It is extremely important to stabilize the "ballast stone" of food. This year, China's grain production is facing many new situations: —— The main body of summer grain is winter wheat, which accounts for about one fifth of the annual grain output, which is of great significance for stabilizing expectations. Affected by the autumn flood last year, 110 million mu of winter wheat was sown late, accounting for one third of the total area. Some places reflected that the seedling situation was "the most complex in the past years". Pan Wenbo, director of the planting management department of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said that in the past few months, through the strengthening of security by various departments and the hard work of farmers, the proportion of class I and II seedlings of winter wheat is 87.9%, 17.4 percentage points higher than that before winter, the growth trend is basically the same as that of the whole year, and there is a hard foundation to win a good harvest. —— Autumn grain is the main part of grain production. China has made it clear that it will stabilize grain rations and corn, expand soybeans and rape this year. On the one hand, the price of agricultural materials has risen, pushing up the cost of growing grain this year; On the other hand, according to the meteorological forecast, the drought and flood situation needs to be paid great attention. Focusing on food security, China proposes to ensure that the grain output will be stable at more than 1.3 trillion kg in 2022, focusing on the key links and making comprehensive deployment—— Mobilize the enthusiasm of focusing on agriculture, grasping grain and growing grain. We will fully implement the same responsibility of the party and the government for food security and conduct strict assessment. The main production area, main sales area and production and marketing balance area should ensure the area and output. Secretaries, governors and mayors of many provinces, autonomous regions and cities go to the grass-roots level to conduct research and investigate the situation of the seedlings. The state raised the minimum purchase price of wheat and rice, and expanded the planting income insurance and full cost insurance of the three major cereals to more than 820 major producing counties in the country's major producing provinces. The central government allocated 20 billion yuan to provide one-time subsidies to farmers who actually grow grain. Do a good job one by one. China has successively held the national spring agricultural production and strengthening the field management of winter wheat, the teleconference on promoting the expansion of soybean oil, and the teleconference on promoting the production of corn and rice, which are deployed one by one. The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas dispatched more than 100 government cadres and 200 technicians to cover the front line of provincial and film sinking, and opened a hotline to solve the actual difficulties of farmers. Relevant departments issued work guidelines to coordinate the prevention and control of COVID-19 and agricultural production in spring. Spring competes for the day and summer for the time. The area of grain sown in spring this year has increased by 490 million mu over the previous year. At present, 28.8% of the intended area of grain sown in spring has been completed, of which 90% of early rice has been planted, 70% of spring wheat has been sown, 50% of potatoes, nearly 30% of spring corn and 10% of soybeans have been sown, and the progress is slightly faster than that of the previous year. Pan Wenbo said that there are about 40 days before the large-scale harvest of wheat. The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas will strengthen monitoring and early warning, guide all localities to pay attention to the management of wheat fields in the middle and later stages, and implement measures with relevant departments to complete the task of spring sowing with high quality. Self sufficiency in rations is guaranteed: imports are mainly adjusted varieties Field production is working hard, people's dining tables are guaranteed, and warehousing and logistics are the key. Liu Lihua, deputy director of the planting management department of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said that China's two major ration crops of rice and wheat have had good harvests year after year. Coupled with abundant stocks, the import is mainly some adjusted varieties, and the self-sufficiency of the two major rations is guaranteed. The relevant person in charge of the State Food and Reserve Administration said that by storing grain in the land, technology and full storage, China's grain and oil processing capacity is very strong. If it is calculated that each person eats 1 kilogram of grain every day, the rice flour processed in one day will be enough for the people of the whole country to eat for two days. Besides the absolute safety of rations, what about other food crops? Soybean and corn are the main varieties of grain imports in China. Corn is an important feed grain, and imported soybeans are mainly used for feed and edible oil consumption. The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas proposed to do everything possible to stabilize corn production this year, to supplement the north with the south, supplement the area with per unit yield, and build a short board, start the implementation of the national soybean and oil production capacity improvement project, and make good use of the two markets and two resources. At present, the acquisition of autumn grain harvest in 2021 is coming to an end. As of the 20th, grain enterprises in the main producing areas had purchased 181 million tons of medium and late rice, corn and soybeans. Since this year, 11.9 million tons of policy grain have been sold nationwide, meeting the market consumption demand. Food supply is relatively sufficient, prices are stable, and food security is generally guaranteed. It is understood that China's comprehensive grain production capacity is strong. In 2021, the national grain output remained above 1.3 trillion Jin for seven consecutive years. Grain stocks are relatively sufficient and the ability to prevent market risks is enhanced. "People are iron and rice is steel. If you don't eat a meal, you're hungry.". The national, provincial, municipal and county grain emergency plan system has been established, with a total of 6000 grain emergency processing enterprises and 52983 grain emergency supply outlets. All localities have innovated the mode of logistics and transportation, strengthened the effective connection of urban, community, intercity and rural distribution, and formed a "national grain 135 emergency support circle" composed of "one hour" in metropolitan areas, "three hours" in surrounding cities and "five hours" in urban agglomerations. With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the domestic grain market has always maintained a good trend of stable operation, which has provided a solid foundation for coping with the risk of the global food crisis and ensuring national food security. According to reports, the national grain and reserve system will strengthen market monitoring and early warning, pay close attention to the changes in the situation of the grain market at home and abroad, strengthen the monitoring of key areas, varieties and periods, timely find and properly deal with relevant problems, and effectively maintain good market order. Pay attention to input factors: price stability is still well supported Recently, affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, international food prices have risen sharply. In March, the FAO grain price index rose 17.1% month on month. The prices of wheat and corn rose by more than 19% month on month, and the prices of corn, barley and sorghum climbed to the highest level since 1990. Last year, nearly 30% of China's corn and barley imports came from Ukraine. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine triggered turmoil in the international grain market and led to a slight rise in some domestic grain prices. According to the data of the National Bureau of statistics, China's grain prices rose by 1.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, including a slight increase in March to 2%. In March, the national consumer price index rose by 1.5% year-on-year. Although the increase was 0.6 percentage points higher than that of the previous month, it was lower than the domestic expected target of about 3%. Grain prices are based on 100% price. Experts believe that despite the influence of international import factors, China's grain prices remain generally stable. From the perspective of trend, China still has good support for coping with the risk of the global food crisis and maintaining the overall stability of food prices. Meng Wei, spokesman of the national development and Reform Commission, said that China's comprehensive grain production capacity is strong, and the local refined grain and oil reserves in the main urban areas of 36 large and medium-sized cities and market volatile areas have reached 15 days or more. Relevant departments will adhere to comprehensive policies and precise regulation to ensure the supply of grain market. Reasonably arrange the sale of policy grain, guide farmers to sell grain at the right time and price, and enterprises to receive grain in a balanced and orderly manner. "The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas will continue to work with relevant departments and units to pay close attention to the market situation of agricultural materials, promote enterprises to improve the utilization rate of production capacity, give full play to the role of reserve regulation, smooth transportation and distribution channels, effectively serve spring agricultural production, and consolidate the foundation for a bumper harvest of grain throughout the year." Chen Ping, a first-class inspector of the Department of market and information technology of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said. (Xinhua News Agency)